Incendium
by Dark Mage Zeref
Summary: Natsu is the last dragon. Why? Because as long as he can remember, he's been cursed: all of his friends are doomed to die. He's been living alone to avoid taking more lives when a feisty little Mage named Lucy finds him, and like the others, is mortally wounded. However, she cannot die...?
1. Chapter 1

**_There are several things that make the world spin_**

**_There is love; there is camaraderie; there is money_**

**_But then there is hate_**

**_And more than you'd care to know_**

**_Hate is the source of everything_**

* * *

I look up at the full moon. It's always been a source of interest for me, how things can exist beyond our petty little world, though in all honesty I much prefer the Sun, even though fire and I have never been the greatest of allies. Fire is the reason that I live in Magnolia, a mere blot on its populace, nothing more than an erroneous mark on its people. I don't get a job; I don't join a Guild; I don't make friends; I don't make myself a home. I exist only because I have to, a hallmark of my kind in its entirety.

It isn't that I feel guilty for what's happened - I stopped feeling guilt long ago, at the same time losing the last of my humanity - but that I despise the arrogant, loathing world that we exist in. A world where magic, the gift that humans have been granted out of a serendipitous quirk of fate, is used as weaponry against one-another. Everybody is a human, so why nitpick the minor differences? The fact of the matter is that the same blood runs through everyone's veins, and the same hearts beat in everyone's chest; somehow, the ignorance overrules, and the world falls into the disarray that it is.

It's sitting there, contemplating ubiquitous matters, that I have an epiphany, a strike of lightning knowledge that I haven't seen before: I'm hungry as shit. It confounds me how I can miss trivial things like that at times; though my father always said that I have a diode of a mind. I prepare to go scavenging stray-animal style when I notice a second thing: a very sweet scent permeates the air, one completely different of the running rivers and vestiges of productivity. This scent is more like flowers and of paper ink. I don't have the time to turn before a cold blade presses against my windpipe.

"Would you bet a thousand Jewel I won't drive this knife in?" she says. It has to be a she, that or a very effeminate male.

"I would, actually."

The knife digs further into my throat; a bead of blood stains its shining surface. "Why's that?"

"Because, firstly, you do not smell of blood or metal, which means that this is a first for you, and a very haphazard first at that, and secondly, these are the soft hands of an aristocrat, and if that is so - which I do not doubt - then you would rather hire someone to do away with me than sully your little hands."

The knife disappears, whistling as it cut through the air in her haste. Then she plops down on the eaves next to me. "Well, you're almost right," she sighs tiredly. "I'm no aristocrat anymore. And I was just trying something; obviously, I'm not a very frightening Mage."

That was a point I was going to bring up, because I could smell Celestial Keys on her. I turned; she was young, seventeen or eighteen, with a thin figure and soft blonde locks. She reminded me somewhat of an old friend. Grandine. "I don't like company," I say, and begin to slide down the eaves when she grabs me by my cloak, pulling me back up.

"But I'm lonely," she whines. I grimace.

"Then go home." Once more, she stops me from leaving.

"I can't..." She pauses, looking at her boots. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Being at home is the same as being alone. But you're some sort of company."

"Bad company," I correct. "Being with me is just going to cause you trouble, lady."

"I don't believe you."

I settle back on the eaves. "Do you believe in stories?"

"Yes," she says without hesitation.

"They tell stories about dragons, how they're the only beings alive that, instead of manipulation the etherion in the air, pull infinite magic from the One Magic."

"I've heard them," she says with low conviction.

"Well, what would you say if I told you that I'm one of them - no, that I'm the _last_ of them?"

"I'd say your pink hair dye is leeching your IQ points," she says, basically giving me a vocabulary-punch to the gut. I fight back the instinct to recoil at the mention of my very natural _salmon _hair.

"Alright, then." This time, I manage to Magnolia's dirt pathway. "I'll be seeing you then."

"Wait!" she calls, chasing after me as I take loping strides, strides that have to be matched by a wild sprint on her part. She catches me by the wrist. "Just because I don't believe your made-up story?"

"Precisely, because _I'm not lying_." I don't know if it's my serious tone, or the fact that I'm still walking very fast, but she relinquishes her grip. "Maybe I just am that rare and I want to stay that way."

"What?" she asks.

"I'm a dragon, damn you!" I say, momentarily not caring about who hears. "Does that not make sense? Do you not speak English?"

She looks very distraught, momentarily dredging up the sandy wisps of memories I've long since tried to trample and shove into the forgotten crevices of my mind. I see fire, hot and red and destructive and painful, fire licking at everything I care about, laughing as it gulped down the bits of my past and plaintively razing over the few remainders of it. I stagger away from her, now as overwhelmed as she is. "I'm cursed," I whisper. "Cursed with death. Any friends I make, the slightest camaraderie I spread, is repaid with death on their part. You see? I can't join a Guild."

"I don't believe you."

I can't help it - I laugh at her. How stubborn and adamant she is! "Why? Why the hell can't you?"

"Because just by looking at you - looking in your eyes - I can tell you're a good guy, and you're lonely."

I stop moving. "What are you, a freakin' psychic? A bad one, too, because you're obviously getting horrible reception."

She puts her hands on my chest, pressing me against a wall. I have nowhere else to go. "No... I'm very sure," she presses, her soft eyes hardening with assurance. She's a persistent little princess, I'll admit. "Who cursed you?"

"What?" It's my turn to be stupefied.

"Who cursed you, I said? Do you not speak English?" she mocks, irritating me to a slight degree.

"It's of no importance for you to know." I gently grab her arms - she is smaller than I, and my strength is probably three times her own - and pull her hands away. She huffs and presses them against my chest again angrily, trying to back me into a corner. "Are you serious?" I sigh.

"Very. I won't let you go until you tell me."

I correct myself: she's a persistent little bitch. "You're aware that I'm much stronger than you are?"

"I don't care."

I roll my eyes and grab her around the waist, hefting her over my shoulder like a regular bundle. She yells and punches my back to little effect. Initially, I try to drop her a few feet away, but her thrashing boots land a kick a little too low and I stumble. She slips from my grip and falls noisily into the river. I wait a few seconds; she come up spluttering and gasping. While she attempts to climb to the bank I run ahead, leaving her behind as I made a roundabout way through Magnolia, tearing down the streets I am so used to but despise. Despise because I always tread them alone, without the warm tinge of friendship that brightens even the murkiest outlooks. I do not have that. I have nothing.

When I'm in one of the shadier portions of Magnolia, content I've lost her, I fall against one of the dilapidated buildings, panting for breath. I've run farther than I intended; even my body has limits. I slide to the ground, pleased knowing that she can't have followed me. Grown men struggle to match my running pace, and she's just a teenager. There's no change-

"I caught you!"

She scares the shit out of me. I literally blinked and she was standing in front of me, hands on her hips, a coy smile on her face. I fall flat on my back out of surprise. "H-How the hell?" I ask, gathering my wits. She turns to the side.

"Thanks, Virgo," she says to a pink-haired woman in maid's clothes. She bows respectfully. She smells like a Spirit.

"There is no punishment today, Princess?" she asks.

"Punishment?" I ask. She flushes terribly.

"Gate closed!" she announces petulantly, and Virgo the maid disappears.

"Damn it," I say. "You're like a bad itch - can't get rid of you."

"It's because I know you're being stubborn," she says.

"_Me?_" Ain't that ironic?

"Yes, you. Even if you don't want to admit it, you want a friend. I know what it's like to be lonely without another soul to be with you, and I don't want you to feel like that. You understand?" She looks very sincere, which surprises me a bit. I don't recognize humans for their sincerity.

"I don't want your charity."

"But it's not charity. I really do want to be friends."

She smiles, and something in my heart pulls. Damn it - way too sincere. I'm actually starting to get convinced to become friends with her...

"Fire!" someone in the distance screams. I look up and a sinking feeling fills my body. The horizon is starting to turn orange.

"I'm sorry," I say hurriedly, "but I have to leave!"

She follows my eyes, shocked. "That's... That's my apartment! The landlady was sleeping there! I have to check on her!" She pulls out a golden Key. "Open, Gate of the Lion! Loke, come help!"

A flash of golden stars blind me for a minute; when my vision returns I see a spiky-hair man in an immaculate suit and azure glasses. He spots the fire and jumps into action. "What to do?" he asks her.

"Take me to my apartment! Fast!" she yells. He scoops her in his arms and starts running at twice my fastest speed, and I'm out of breath to begin with (and still hungry), and even as I start running fast, terror shackles my legs, weighing them down.

_"Wendy!" I shouted, pushing aside the smoldering remains of a tree. Again, I couldn't see her. The acrid taste of smoke filled the air, blocking her scent, and my hearing was muffled by the crackle of flames. I whirled around, frantic, but the only thing I could see were forest trees burning like matchsticks. Because of me, the forest was alight and my friends were in danger._

_"Natsu-san," a weak cry came. I barreled through the blackened trunks like a bull, using my arms to cushion the blows. Finally, I spotted a bit of blue lying on the ground. I took a deep breath, inhaling the flames within a five-feet radius, even though I was already too full from initially trying to quell the wildfire. The area around us dulled to sooty grey and black. Wendy was lying on the ground, her pale skin streaked with ash, her usually vibrant eyes dulled. "Natsu-san..." She couldn't even manage a smile. I grabbed her as gently as possible, lifting her by the shoulders.  
_

_"Wendy, keep your eyes open," I ordered, lifting her in my arms. "I'll get you out of here. I promise."_

_She reached up, her small hand trembling as it grasped my shirt. "I...I'm sorry, Natsu-san. I couldn't...kill...the fire..."_

_Tears threatened to spill from my eyes as I charged through the forest. "Wendy, don't talk. Don't talk. Please. It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay..."_

_I knew, however, that it wouldn't be okay. What I thought was ash was really her skin, burnt to charcoal. With all those burns she wouldn't possibly be okay, but I wasn't going to say it. Not to her, who hasn't made a friend outside of me, Gajeel and that little Exceed, as she called it. I couldn't say it._

_"Damn it!" I shouted, kicking down a large tree obscuring my way. "It's the damn curse! Damn it, damn it, damn it!"_

_I kept saying that until the smoke finally got to me. I couldn't see a damn thing anymore, and my lungs were getting sore from inhaling it so much, on top of the excess fire I consumed. Even though I had Wendy (who had probably passed while I was running, I don't know) I failed her, and myself._

The street is a streak of fire blazing through the night. People huddle in five-person groups near the river, whispering furiously in wait for a Water Mage or something to come by. I catch one woman saying "I'm sorry-I just left the pot on too long-I didn't mean for it to catch on-I don't even know how it happen-" but I ignore it. Through the fire I smell her and that lion, Loke, in a flaming two-floor apartment. I brace my feet and jump, aiming at a window with a minimum amount of fire. Instead, my head crashes against the glass maladroitly. I would've blacked out and fallen back to the street if a hand hadn't shot out and grabbed me, yanking me inside. I landed flat on my back, now breathless in the smoke-filled room. Loke looks at me gratingly.

"Lion," I say, beginning to thank him, but he puts his hand on my mouth, shushing me.

"You have to go help her," he orders. "This is your fault."

_My fault. My fault._ The words spin in my mind, making me feel more lightheaded than the smoke. I hardly process what he says next; he decks me in the jaw once, not very hard but hard enough to snap me back to reality. "What did I do?" I ask, still out of it.

"Your curse. I know about it," he says, but he actually looks a little sorry for me. Pity is something I don't need - that is, unless it's from that girl. "Look, I don't really care. You have to help her - she got caught on the first floor, and for some reason, my magic is faulty in here. I couldn't help her even if I managed past all this fire." Yeah, he says that with that manicured, spotless suit of his.

"I would've done it anyway."

"I'm sure you would've, Natsu Dragneel."

I don't have enough time to ask how he knows my name; I charge through the fire, using it to satiate my hunger as I throw burning debris from my path like a madman. Somewhere along the way my cloak can't take the heat anymore and blows into golden flames; I toss it away, leaving my vest and canvas pants that I picked up at some dingy store. I find the stairs, except their crumbling like dirt, and I don't realize it until I actually put my foot on the second one and it falls apart, causing me to fall headfirst to the ground. Good thing I have a hard head.

"Hey-!" I hear her weak shout a little further up, past the train wreck of bunched furniture that is the front door. I kick away fallen beams, burned furniture, and crumbling walls until I find her on her hands and knees, an unconscious lady (presumably the landlady) with a small gash on the forehead lying beneath her. I suck in a sharp breath; she protected her, all right. There's a sharp spike of wool sticking into her shoulder blade and out the other end of her chest, dripping rapidly-drying blood on the burning floor. She sees me and smiles. "What took you so long?" she asks.

"_Please_," I urge, though I'm not sure to who. "Don't do this to me again. Not again."

Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. Carefully - the same way I held Wendy - I take her into my arms. She doesn't protest at all; she simply watches me with her soft eyes. I hold her carefully with one arm and get the landlady with the other, turning my back to the burning wall. "Try to hold on," I say, then I bring my foot forward and throw it back with all my strength, smashing it into the already fragile wall. Chunks of plaster smash into my back instead of hitting the two and I immediately feel the night's air on my skin. I turn to the opening I created and walk through it and to the front of the building. The crowds look up as I set her and the landlady down; a couple of Healing Mages come over to tend to the lady, but one, a woman with minty-green hair, shakes her head at the girl.

"I'm sorry," she says, looking at the spike still sticking from Lucy's chest. I grab it, frustrated, and pull it free. Blood stains our skin but she hardly reacts. Damn it all. "Do you know her?"

"I wish," I say as the Mage turns back to the crowd. The wound is a long slit from her collarbone to right breast; I put her hand over it, a weak attempt at hiding it. Her eyes are still open, staring at the night sky. I reach my hand out, putting them over her eyelids, when suddenly her hand flashes out, unhindered, very spryly too, unlike a dying person's, and grabs my wrist. Her heartbeat, a sound I haven't heard in a while, thunders in my ears, and her chest, previously still, jumps with a sudden breath.

"What are you doing?" she asks, her voice clear as day. I open my mouth and close it again, over and over, flabbergasted. Then I look down, and what I see completely shocks me. The wound is gone, a simple pink scar on her pale skin.

_What the fuck?_


	2. Chapter 2

"The fuck." I'm at a complete loss of words. "The flying fuck."

She stares at me, then at her scar, then back at me. "What? What's going on?"

I'm fucking short-circuiting. She had a piece of wood go _through_ her chest, had to have pierced her heart, and yet she's completely fine! That's fucking _impossible_!

"Um, hey," I say slowly, gripping her shoulders, mostly to keep from blacking out myself. "You're...you're fine, right? No pain or...anything?"

She shakes her head no.

"Shit," I say. I don't know who's sanity I'm doubting more, mine or her's, because this is insane. Suddenly she frowns, looking past me as a group of Water Mages try to extinguish the fires consuming the block.

"My house," she says lugubriously. I was so frantic that I forgot that it was her house burning, meaning that she has no place to stay. She sits up, her eyes watering. "My manuscripts...my letters to Mama..." If there's one thing I can't handle, it's a crying girl.

"Don't cry," I say like a complete moron. She rubs her eyes, looking at me. "Um... Baa?"

She starts laughing. "You said 'Baa?'"

I start burning. "I guess."

"How did this even happen?" she murmurs, looking at the burnt remains of her home.

"It's my curse," I say dolefully. "I don't know why, but... But fire seems to follow me, wherever I go and with whatever I do, and take away the things I care about."

Her eyes glitter, and not with tears this time. "That means...you care about me?"

"Of course not! Why should I?"

She turns away, giving me a smug smile. "Your lips say one thing, but I see you blushing."

"Damn it!"

"Hey," she says, "you never told me your name. Are you trying to pass off as a mysterious stranger?"

That ship sailed a long time ago. I can neither repel her with indifference or rudeness, so I don't see a point in hiding my name anymore. "Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."

"Lucy," she smiles. I almost want to smile, too. I don't know why - she's just so blatant that when I'm around her I focus only on her, like the blank canvas of my life suddenly has a mark on it that I can look at. It's really fucking amazing for someone like me.

Suddenly she tenses all over, then doubles over and almost hits her head on the ground before I catch her. She's out like a light, but thankfully, she's still breathing. Really, she is something special.

* * *

I've seen Fairy Tail a preponderance of times, though every instance I was a passerby; instead, right now I'm approaching its doors with an unconscious girl in my arms and both of us with ashy, blood-stained clothes. I wouldn't look twice at myself; it'd be a miracle for anyone inside to. Since my hands are occupied I hit the doors with my foot. They give and creak open loudly.

The Guild is in high-swing. The first floor had rows of tables that are filled with every kind of Mage existing - Water, Fire, Wind, Paper, Ice, Requip, Dance, etc. The second floor, wrapping around the first floor, is notably quieter, housing only a bulletin board with a couple of wizards lingering at it. There's a bar with a white-haired Mage bearing drinks and a similar-looking pair of people nearby, presumably family. There's a curly-haired wizard lurking behind a pillar, eyeing a raven-haired exhibitionist sitting at a table. There is a second bulletin board at the back with a red-skinned Mage standing by it; he's so still I assume he's always standing there, indecisive. There's a blonde man with a lightning scar standing on the second floor looking down on everyone and there's a redheaded female Mage in silver armor sitting near the back polishing a bloody sword. I don't have a response to that.

I'm so caught up in the sights, smells, and sounds of the Fairy Tail Guild that I don't realize someone has approached me until I get a nasty bump on my forehead. "Ouch - damn it!" I stumble, catching myself before I drop Lucy. A dwarf of an old man is standing before me, holding a gnarled wooden staff that he had probably bruised my head with.

"I couldn't get your attention otherwise," he says airily. He has a very lax disposition, but at the same time, exudes an air of greatness. "And I can tell you're in need of assistance," he adds, looking at Lucy.

"Yes," I say. "She's... Well, I don't really know what's wrong with her - if there _is_ something wrong - but I need help. _Please_."

He turns and calls for someone named Elfman. A dark-skinned man with white hair like the barmaid comes over and takes Lucy with more gentleness than I can figure his burly frame has and takes her away. I start after him but stagger, and I would've fallen if that raven-haired kid hadn't grabbed my arm. Really, I want to thank him, but staring at his barren figure, the best thing I can come up is, "I can tell you're body is muscled, 'cause it's hard and firm and everything, but some _things_ are just hanging. Put some fucking pants on!"

That strikes a chord with my naked comrade and he then proceeds to punch me in the face. I'm not even in no damn mood to pick a fight with some random kid desperately in need of a tablecloth, and instead of honoring his wish to have a long, stretched-out brawl in the middle of the Guild I give him what can be called my strongest Fire Dragon's Iron Fist in a while, though it's instead a Fire Dragon Sky Uppercut, because my attack sends his jaw, then the rest of his barren body, flying up and then crashing down like a pasty meteor, obliterating the tables within a fifteen-feet diameter. The aftershock jars everyone's teeth. I look around, humiliated.

"I'm sorry-" I start, but I'm taken aback by the resounding whoops and calls. They actually seem...encouraging. I get a lot of back-pats and shoulder-punches.

"Great job!"

"I've never seen Gray get it handed to him that hard before!"

"You're one strong bastard!"

"Cool!"

I'm so surprised that I just stand there like a statue while I get praises for knocking someone out. Gray sits up, letting out an angry breath, rubbing his jaw that now has bruises in the form of my knuckles. He gives a sardonic smile. "I'll get you back for that," he says, standing up. Then he gasps, "Shit! Where did my pants go?" And charges away.

Amazing. Unequivocally inconceivable.

I slump into one of the tables. The other Fairy Tail Mages try to goad me into another fight or offer me some free food but I refuse; the ordeal with the fire and Lucy has me exhausted, physically and mentally, and I pushed my limits eating all that fire in her house. I don't know what happened - maybe I passed out, or was lost in thought - but suddenly I wasn't in the Guild hall anymore.

_"Dad!" I shouted, even though I knew my efforts were feeble, my shouts being easily repelled off the thick canopy of leaves. I crashed down on the dirt, panting and heaving and searching for breath in the dank swampy air. Find your way out, he had said, without smell or hearing to guide you. At first, I thought he was just shitting me, until he clubbed me on the head, instantly knocking me out, and left me in middle of the blandest forest possible. Everywhere I went seemed the same - murky yellow-brown water up to my ankles, thin-trunk trees rising and shading the sky and Sun with their thick leaves, choking everything else except the lichen that overran the ground, big rocks and slimy tendrils of vines - and every other step some bug tried to get a taste of my ass. I was depressed as hell; I thought that I couldn't get out._

_"Dad, you crazy bastard! I ought'a-" I stopped because I was hearing another voice - and I was damn sure it wasn't mine or Igneel's. I felt hot breath on my bare shoulders (I hadn't expected to be thrown in a swamp; I only wore a pair of ragged shorts and Igneel's scarf) and every hair on my body pricked in attention. Stuck in my own troubles, I hadn't begun to think that the darkness of the forest would create an ideal hiding place for smaller animals, and as a result, larger predators. I turned very, very slowly; thankfully, my eyes were acclimated to very dark places, otherwise I would've been very easy pray to the two rabid wolves that were now on my tail. I turned and ran as fast as I could, which was admittedly fast, but not enough in the face of two natural predators. And I was only a kid then, so I was pretty much an after-dinner snack._

_I was so scared that if I hadn't pissed on a bush earlier I would've been completely soaked. Every attempt to get a flare going was futile; the air was too stale, too lacking in oxygen to nurse a smolder. I was in some deep, deep shit. In my haste, trying to see past the veil of smoke I created while I was trying to get a good conflagration going, I missed a tree root that protruded from the ground, almost acrimoniously laughing at me as the moss draping it caught on my heel, throwing me to the ground. I rolled on my back just as the wolves gained on me, snarling and snapping, saliva dripping from their muzzles on my face. "Shiiii..." I whispered, to scared to finish the word._

_"Iron Dragon's Roar!"_

_The thin trees snapped like toothpicks as a shrapnel-infused whirlwind blew through, carrying with it the wolves until they splashed into the muddy water. I threw my arm up to shield my face from the jagged bits of metal, and then I heard the same gruff voice say, "Iron Dragon Karma Sword!" and then all I could hear was the sound of the wolves' mad howls. When I lifted my arm they were two disfigured bodies floating downstream. My savior was standing at the bank, a scowl deep-set on his face. He looked my age, maybe a couple of years older, with disheveled black hair and reptilian red eyes. His skin was studded with metal like the metal sword that replaced his right hand. "You're seriously Igneel's son?" he snorted, walking over to me. "You were cryin' like a brat."_

_"I wasn't crying," I argued._

_"Sure looked like it."_

_"Then you must have bad eyes." I stuck out my hand but he snorted again. I got to my feet without help._

_"Natsu," I introduced. "You are...?"_

_"Tired of talkin' to a baby like you." He turned to the hole he created in the damp wall of forestry. "But if it bothers you so much, they call me Black Steel Gajeel, or Gajeel."_

_"Gajeel," I murmured as he stalked through the hole, his boots smacking loudly against the muck of the ground. He seemed scary; scary, but interesting._

I open my eyes, realizing that I had in fact passed out, and look down in surprise to see that someone's put me in what looks like an infirmary, with beds and paper curtain dividers. I look at my now-bandaged hands; they were probably injured when I was trying to help Lucy, throwing around flaming pieces of wood and plaster. I wasn't doing myself any favors by preforming those superhuman feats. Though it was worth it to save her life. Eh? Why am I thinking that way?

"Mrrhm..." I hear a soft groan from the next bed over. I stand up, ignoring the stiff pain from my overtaxed muscles, and walk to the other side of the curtain. There, I see Lucy in a bed, murmuring softly in her sleep. I feel the sudden urge to reach out and touch her, confirming her existence, but I ignore it. Why the hell am I getting so strange over a damn human girl? She stirs suddenly and sits bolt-upright, eyes wide.

"Lucy, it's just me," I say. The tension leaves her body in a sigh.

"Bad dream," she says. She rubs her eyes and looks around. "Where are we?"

"Fairy Tail."

Her eyes widen dubiously. "No, really? We're in _Fairy Tail_?"

"We're not in Fairy Ass."

She starts to laugh, then cuts herself off with a snort, but the damage has been done. I can tell she thinks I'm funny. "You can't hide your amusement, Lucy," I taunt.

"You're so not cute," she huffs, turning away.

"Do you know how people state predators can smell fear? We can smell other things too, like _lies_."

She blushes furiously, though I can't tell if it's because of anger or embarrassment, and before I can ask the door opens and the old man enters, looking from me to Lucy and back to me. "It seems the both of you are in good health," he notes, his face straight but his tone smiling.

"Um, yeah." I look down, focusing on my hands. They are bandaged now - really, I was so pumped on adrenaline that I could have been shot in the head and not noticed until death was literally in my face.

"Oh, right!" I turn to Lucy. She smiles at me. "Thank you, Natsu, for saving my life earlier."

A warm feeling floods my body, from my head to my feet. Because I've tried so hard to distance myself from others, preventing a relationship, I've never really known infatuation towards another - or rather, a girl, to be specific. Looking at her, she seems my age, maybe a year younger...

What the _fuck_, Natsu. Why the _hell_ are you thinking about these things? You shouldn't even be here, around all these people, making yourself _complacent_...

That's what the logical part of my brain is saying, but both my fluttering heart and enervated body reach a consensus to give a dual protest. I turn to the man again. "I never caught your names, or why you came here covered in ash and blood," he says.

"I'm Natsu," I say, "and that's Lucy." I explain the fire and Lucy's loss of a home, excluding how the fire happened. He regards the both of us, slowly.

"Well, Lucy, you can stay as long as it takes you to find a new home," he says to her.

"Really?" I don't think Lucy's smile can be wider - if so, her face will split. It's kind of cute seeing her like that. "Thank you! No, seriously, I couldn't be more grateful!"

He nodded once, then the man - somewhere during my explanation, he gave his name as Makarov, the Guild Master - turns to look at me. Here it comes, I think. "What about you, Natsu? Do you have a place to stay?"

"No," I say. Lucy looks at me quizzically.

"Then where do you sleep?" she asks.

"Alleys. Sheds. The occasional unlocked store."

"That's horrible!" Lucy exclaims. I shrug.

"I don't want to stay around people," I say. "I'm..." I have to turn away for a minute, remembering Wendy's charred body. "I'm bad luck."

Makarov looks up at me. "I think you'll be happy to know that at Fairy Tail, we don't judge a person by past or future actions, but by how they choose to live their lives now. And I can tell, by your rescue of this young lady here, that you aren't a bad person."

_That's what you know._ "I'm not, sir, but-"

"Why don't you stay the night?" he offers. "We have beds available, as well as food-"

At that, my stomach growls loudly. Makarov laughs; I grimace. Curse my body and all the sustenance it needs.

Makarov leaves then. I look at Lucy. "You truly intend on staying?" I ask. "Joining the Guild?"

"Of course!" she replies. "It's been my dream since I was a child to be in Fairy Tail. Natsu, why don't you join?"

"My curse," I murmur. Her face falls.

"Right," she says, deflated.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine on my own - I always have been," I say, but I sound disappointed even to myself. I can't work up bravado - not tired and unwilling and on an empty stomach. Actually, just the latter; I can't do _anything_ on an empty stomach.

"Please?" Lucy pleads, moving to her knees and clasping her hands together. Don't look, I tell myself. Don't look, don't look, don't- Damn it! Her eyes got me again!

"Okay, I'll stay the night," I say automatically, mentally punching myself in the face for being so weak-minded. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why this girl has so much of an influence on me.

"Cool!" She slides to the ground; her chest is bandaged beneath her (slightly burned) clothes but it doesn't hinder her as she bounces on the balls of her feet, practically running to the door. "I'm gonna go meet everyone!" she exclaims before pulling it open and lurching into the fray. I sit at the foot of the infirmary's bed, sighing.

"Quite a surprise," Makarov says, "to see a lone dragon so deep in Magnolia."

Immediately, I tense up. "What?"

"I am very old, child, and as such I've learned a few things. One of them is to recognize a dragon when I see one." He smiles almost childishly. "Your magic is extremely unique."

He's sunk the knife in and doesn't realize how deep the wound is. I relax myself a tiny bit, but remain alert - I don't like to be reminded of my magic. "It is," I agree.

"And dragons always have unusual appearances - for you, lad, it would be your rosy hair."

I flush, turning away. "It used to be red. Really!"

Makarov laughs it off, frustrating me. Then his expression turns serious. "You also seem to have another sort of magic about you. A curse."

My heart pulls. "I know."

"Would you mind explaining it, if you can?"

I don't want to, but secrets are an unbearable weight to one who's seen it all. "I...It happened when I was young. I...Someone had a grudge against my father. He took it out on his son - me." I stand up. "I'm sorry, Makarov sir, but I can't really talk about it."

"It's alright, my child. However, there is something you should be wary about."

I stare as Makarov heads to the door, flashing me a grin over his shoulder. "Gray Fullbuster doesn't take a beating lying down, if you know what I mean."

The last worry I have is of recalcitrant kids, but it is kind of nice that I now have a sort of sparring partner. I smack myself on the head as I reenter the Guild hall. Damn it, Natsu. You're getting way too complacent, I think. And I am, too. I shouldn't be here, mingling with all these people, making them attached to me... It will hurt me. And them. Both of us. I stop in the doorway, watching Lucy speak to the crowd that's converged around her, smiling and laughing and having a good time. I should not be the one to end it all for them. I turn around, facing the window of the infirmary, and march towards it purposefully, pulling the latch and yanking it open. A blast of stale summer air hits my face; I brace my hand against the ledge and propel myself away from the Mages, away from their laughs and playful punches, away from Lucy.


	3. Chapter 3

Magnolia is always pretty quiet, but my ears are buzzing with the sound of my own stomach. I clench it, willing it to stop growling, but it seems to growl even louder to spite me. I sit in one of its darker alleys, as far from Fairy Tail as I could get running on empty, biting my lip so hard it drew blood twice and stained my vest and the dirt with it. When I finally manage to stop thinking of my gnawing hunger, I begin thinking of Lucy. Her face, her smile, her laugh, her eyes...

I jam my fist into my cheek, hard enough to make my teeth shake. I need to stop thinking of her. She can have a good human life, find a human to settle with; being with me will literally be her downfall, so even if I did, by a misdemeanor of fate, become infatuated with her, then I would have to grin and bear it. That is how I keep people safe - by hurting myself.

I don't know how long I sit there before it begins to rain. Fat drops fall on me, dousing my hair and soaking my clothes through. Usually, the rain doesn't bother me because the superfluous amount of heat that my magic produces keeps me warm, but my magic is low, and as such it's creating less fire and therefore less body heat. Sadly, the alley is devoid of anything I can use to shelter myself, so I'm forced to brave the elements like a true dragon - or rather, like a true bitch, because I curl up and lie there with the rain pounding on me. I think I fall asleep at some point, because when I look up the rain has regressed into a slight drizzle and the dirt pathways are hardened into mud. I start to stand up but find it difficult; I use the wall to push myself to my feet. I can't make it much longer without _something_ in my stomach.

"If it isn't Natsu Dragneel," a sardonic voice to my right says, "looking as forlorn as a lost puppy."

"How do you know my name?" I ask. Gray's hard expression lightens somewhat as he arches an eyebrow. I notice he has two umbrellas, one folded and one open over his head.

"How can I not? Lucy mentioned it a billion times already. What are you doing here?"

"Freezing," I say acerbically before I can stop myself. "Er, I mean, living. I am doing quite well."

"Yeah, I can tell when you're soaked through like that," Gray snorts. I start to say something back but a sneeze cuts me off. "Why'da leave anyway? Afraid I was going to get my comeuppance and kick your ass?"

"No..." I bite my lip. "I'm sorry; you should go back."

"I won't." Gray locks his eyes with mine. "As much as I hate it, you're part of Fairy Tail, even without the Guild's mark, and Fairy Tail doesn't leave its friends out in the cold. Literally." He holds out the folded umbrella but I shake my head.

"I don't have friends. Go away."

Instead, he folded his arms across his chest (still bare; I'm starting to think he doesn't know what clothes are). "Being adamant about it doesn't help."

Really, two people calling me stubborn in the same day? And the irony still remains! "I don't know why people can't take my word for it when I say that I don't want friends."

"Because I see myself in you. Somebody that's been through Hell. And that's not a burden you can bear alone."

That strikes me speechless. "Come on," he says. "Give me a reason why you would rather sit in the rain than be in Fairy Tail. Is it that bad?"

"No..." My voice is quiet. "It's exactly the opposite. You guys are far too nice for me. I do not want to hurt you all."

Gray, apparently under a misapprehension, indicates his slightly-bruised jaw. "You ain't hurt me. This is nothing."

"That's not what I mean, though I am sorry for it." I turn away. "I am sorry, Gray, but I can't come back. I can't risk the lives of such good people. Tell Lucy that, please."

"Why don't you?" he snorts.

"Gray, I'm serious. I'm not adamant, nor am I a fool. I cannot be with you all - I just can't, okay?" Somehow, my voice rises to a shout. "_Just leave me alone, damn it!_" My control snaps and a burst of fire comes from my mouth. Gray stumbles backwards but isn't fast enough. It gets him in the chest before dissipating in the air. My eyes widen at the long scorch mark it leaves. He's momentarily stunned, clenching his chest, and before he catches my eye again I turn and use a few crates as trampolines, lurching to the nearest house's roof and running away as fast as I possibly can on an empty stomach.

Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it, fuck it,_ fuck it, FUCK IT!_

Somehow, I end up at Kardia Cathedral, and I collapse on the roof of one of its spires. The rain is still falling, washing away my sweat, and I'm breathing so hard it hurts. I'm not doing myself any favors by working with no fuel, neither am I by doing so much physical activity after running like a madman through a house fire, tossing debris and shrapnel like toys. Despite the drizzling rain fire puffs out of my nose with each exhale. I cover it, stricken. Damn it, I think.

"Natsu," a familiar high-pitched voice whines. "Natsu, are you okay?"

I look up and find my little friend hovering above me worriedly. Happy - that's the name I've given him, because he rarely is ever morose, unlike myself - is an acquaintance of mine. Though I've never verbally expressed how much I enjoy his company, his gifts of fish when I'm out starving on the streets, his capricious antics, I do somewhat think of him as a friend, but the curse prevents me from making it known to him. Instead, I try to avoid him as much as possible, but yet, he finds me always. Kneeling on the ground, I feel utterly hopeless, hopeless enough to snatch him from the air, staring him in his wide eyes.

"Happy," I say breathlessly; he continues staring at me, surprised. I've never been friendly with him before, so my actions are confusing him. I want to say it - "You are my best friend" - but when I open my mouth no words come out. The fear still holds me back, even though I'm unsure if the curse affects beings from other universes. (I've heard that cats like Happy, who can walk and talk and fly, are things called Exceeds from another world called Edolas.) "I wish I wasn't this way," I say impetuously. "I wish I could have just one damn friend without being afraid of..." My voice cracks and fails.

Happy, not understanding, tears up. "Natsu, what are you talking about?" he pleads. "I am your friend, right?"

I want to agree. I want to agree so badly it hurts. _Shit_. I'm a dragon, I'm a dragon in title and magic and ancestry, but somehow I'm cursed with human emotions, cursed to love and hate and hurt and grieve, cursed to always be afraid of making a single friend. I want to-no, I _need_ to join Fairy Tail. The urge is so strong it burns. To have a place to call home, a building to stay in when it's pouring like this, a place with food and beds and-and Lucy. But I can't, because then they'll get attached to me, and they will...!

I release Happy hurriedly. "I'm sorry," I say, looking at my feet. The rain continues to spill down my face; I can't tell if I'm crying.

"Natsu..." He flutters up and lands on my head. "Your hair is soft."

I look at his tail swinging to and fro in front of my face. After a few seconds it stops moving as he seemingly falls asleep. I start to touch him then yank my hand back. Then I sit there in silence as the rain floods the city.

* * *

"Natsu!" Lucy calls. I'm so out of it that I at first perceive her voice as a dream. Then the concentrated smell of food wafts through the damp air and I realize that it's real. I shake myself out of my stupor and look at the ground; she's walking through the mud of the pathways, an umbrella in one hand despite the very faint drizzle that the rain has regressed into, and a picnic basket in the other that is creating the succulent scents that woke me up earlier. My stomach growls like Igneel used to, which is to say that it is very loud. "Natsu, where are you?"

I impetuously swing myself off the spire, climbing down the cathedral to land on the ground right behind her. Before I'm even aware of what I've done Lucy turns around, hearing the squishing sound my sandals make in the mud. "I've been looking for you," she says, her Lucy smile set on her face. "Why did you leave?"

I can't do anything but look at the picnic basket in her hand. "That... That's a fire Lacrima in there, isn't it?" I ask, a slight tremor in my voice. I'm so fucking hungry that only the infinitesimal blot of my patience keeps me from mowing her over and taking the basket like a wild animal.

"And real meat," she says. I reach for it but she backs away. "Not until you tell me why you left."

"I already told you-" another grab, miss, "-that I'm _cursed_. I won't risk the Fairy Tail Mages' lives."

"But you're not a bad guy. You ran through a building on fire to save my life."

"It's not about intent, Lucy. The curse acts of its own mind and volition in no regards to my own. It takes away everything I care for..." It almost took you, I almost say, but catch myself at the last moment. "I cannot allow myself a single friend."

She pauses at that. "Where did the curse come from?" Her question is so straightforward that it catches me off guard.

"I...It was passed down. From my father." I did lie to Makarov earlier, when he asked me of its origins; I couldn't help it. It was a reflex from beign secretive for so many years.

She opens her mouth to ask another question but I tackle her before a word escapes, throwing both of us to the ground. I take the basket from her hand easily; she's too stunned to fight back. "I got you, Luce," I say. She blinks twice, then a smug smile crosses her face.

"Luce," she repeats. I flush terribly, pushing off of her and to my feet.

"Lucy," I correct a bit too hastily. "Lucy, I mean. Shit."

"How did your father get cursed?" she asks as I shove fire Lacrimas in my mouth in an attempt to hide my embarrassment. I swallow hard, touching my temple.

"It's not a story I like to recount," I say. "It has been there since the War - you know, the one between dragons and humans. It is the fault of the most evil dragon in existence."

"And that is?"

The Lacrimas suddenly fell heavy in my stomach. I do not want to say its name; I never want to see that beast again. I've only seen it once, once as it wrecked my home. Once as it fought my father. Once as it sprayed Igneel's blood over me, the same way it sprayed human and dragon blood over its once human body. Then it said to me the words I will never, ever forget.

_As your father before you, all those who dare love a beast such as yourself will perish, die by the embers of your coveted Fire._

"Natsu?" Lucy whispers. I realize that I've begun crying. I use Igneel's scarf to dry my tears, turning away.

"All those who love a beast such as I will perish," I repeat, setting alight the dry fibers of the picnic basket. Its warmth is out of place in the chill air. "Perish by the embers of my Fire."

I hold the basket until its nothing more than a few charred shreds of wicker; I let them drift away in the wind. I turn back to Lucy to see she is crying in tandem with me - for what reason, I'm not aware. "Natsu..." She steps towards me; I step back.

"Why are you so stubborn?" I shout at her, causing her to tense in surprise. Suddenly I'm overtaken by pensiveness, my want to protect Lucy but also be with her coinciding, creating a burning pain in my chest that I can't stand. I _have_ to protect her; I _have_ to get her to stay away. "Why are you so set on bringing me with you? I do not want to go to Fairy Tail. I do not want to be with them, and I absolutely-" my throat clenches but I force the acidic words through derisively, "-and I absolutely do not want to be with you! _I hate you!_"

The conviction in my words is unambiguous, despite the tears still staining my cheeks. I've put all my fury, my regret, my self-loathing behind my invective, trying to coerce my body into saying the words that it absolutely does not believe in. It hurts; it tangibly aches my soul and being to be as ruthless as to send her back, crushing her attachment to me, but I can't risk her life. Not her. Not Lucy.

Lucy stares at me for a solid ten seconds as if she cannot believe her own ears. "What?" she whispers.

"I hate you," I repeat, even though the words corrode my tongue with their untruthfulness. "I hate you Lucy."

More tears pour down her cheeks; it is a monumental effort to not rescind my words at this very moment, to impugn myself by contravening my "dislike" of her, but I cannot. Like I have been doing for my whole life, I have to hurt myself in order to protect others. Lucy opens her mouth and shuts it again, over and over, as if words have failed her as they have I. Then she turns and runs away, taking with her the one bit of my heart that isn't completely hopeless.


	4. Chapter 4

I look up at the moon, wondering how I've gone from pondering its consistent similarity to looking at it and wishing I'm up there instead of here on Earth, forced to live in the same city as Lucy. Things have taken such a drastic turn from yesterday that my head spins as I try to figure it all out. I've told Lucy I hate her, an action that makes me want to hang myself. I've denied my feelings towards others but I have never outright tried to change them so haphazardly - especially when I harbor the same or even greater feelings towards that person. I broke Lucy's heart; whether she liked me (a far-fetched concept) or simply wanted to be my friend, I've completely severed that connection, however minute, and in doing so, have shattered both our hearts.

I press my hand against my chest, checking for the tenth time in the last minute for my beating heart. It feels so hollow inside that at times I forget that I am still living, still breathing. I won't say that I love her - though, I realize, I'm getting dangerously close to that border - but she is my friend, with her adamant attitude and audacity and, holy shit, her Lucy smile, the smile that's so nice and innocent and sincere I have to comply to her commands. And I sent that away. Even the thought of her being safe isn't enough to fill the space that has centered itself in my chest.

Before I know it, before logic caught up with the imprudent orders my brain sent my feet, I'm running down the road, trekking the same path I took earlier to Fairy Tail. I stop myself, but not before I'm within smelling distance of the Guild. I recognize Lucy's scent immediately and it smells like...sadness. Very, very profound sadness.

I walk the few extra feet and turn the corner that leads to the front gate of the Guild. The doors are closed but my super-hearing picks up on the voices inside. Despite myself, I press myself against the wall, painting a mental picture of what's happening by the scents and sounds that escape, comparing them to my initial view of Fairy Tail and its Mages.

"You're alright, Gray?" the redheaded Mage asks. He's sitting at one of the tables, his chest bandaged. My heart clenches; if I hurt him...

"'Course," Gray replies irritably. I don't think that guy has a good side. 'Ass' is probably his permanent setting. "That Hothead just caught me by surprise, then he ran away like a little bitch. Damn, if he had stayed, I would've turned him into a human Popsicle."

I can't help but snort at that.

"How about you, Lucy?" the Mage asks. Lucy's smell is hard to detect; it seems that a lot of Guild members are gathered around her, creating an amalgam of scents that are so finely tuned I cannot distinguish one from another. I have to determine it all by voice instead. "You've been quiet ever since you returned. What happened?"

"Natsu-" she breaks off; her voice is thick, like she cried a lot. Oh, Lucy. "He says he doesn't want to come back here. Doesn't want to be with you guys. Doesn't want to be with me. He said..." I smell her grief now, overwhelming all other scents with its potency. "He said he hates me."

I take a hard breath; suddenly my throat feels constricting. Hearing her say it back makes it... It makes it so much more real what I've done, the lie I've told to protect her. Even though I have saved her life by severing our connection, even someone like me, oblivious to humanity's emotions, can tell that her life is still broken. I've once heard a phrase, that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, but doing this, it seems a pathetic excuse for breaking hearts.

I turn away before I can hear any more and start running down the road. Tears pricks at my eyes but I hold them back automatically, remembering Igneel chastising me for being such a crybaby. I stop on Lucy's old block, with the charred remains of her apartment and the other homes in the vicinity. It's my fault - it's my fucking fault, and I did the right thing by leaving her. She'll be safe. She'll be _safe_.

But I don't want her to be safe, my heart says, defying all the logic I've been abiding for for my whole cursed life. I want her to be here. With _me_.

Frustration and grief war inside of me; I let out a great bellowing roar, releasing as much magic as possible in one burst. My flames are like the Sun, briefly illuminating the whole city. As the last of the embers dissipate I brace my hands on my knees, fatigued from the effort but having expelled the greater majority of my frustration. That just leaves the grief, eating at my insides until I feel as hollow as the space in my heart. "Shit!" I shout, slamming my fist against the post of a bridge. The whole bridge wobbles and shakes in response. "I wish I didn't have to hurt Lucy! I wish I wasn't cursed!"

"Is that so?" someone behind me says. I cover my nose irritably; I'm getting out of touch, not being able to sense strangers anymore. "Would you give anything to get rid of your curse?"

I think, as I turn around, that my sense of smell had nothing to do with my not sensing this person, because his whole demeanor reeks of inconspicuousness. His face is mostly hidden by a mask, though I can discern strange red markings underneath his eye, partly hidden by his cerulean fringe. "It is permanent," I say. "Permanent unless I kill the one who set the curse."

The Mage takes one more step forward, a long magical staff in hand. Suddenly I am overcome by lethargy, more potent than the one caused by magical exhaustion. It tastes like Sleep Magic, and though it is far from sufficient to overwhelm my natural dragon energy, it is enough to have me stunned and immobile in my spot. "That is, if you're going by the logic of Earthland curses," he says, almost derisive in tone.

"What...are you insinuating...?"

"That for a price, I can allow you the life that you covet," the Mage continues. He's a foot away now, so close that I can finally catch his scent; it is very similar to Happy's in undertone, which would be a slightly lemony tang.

"Edolas," I murmur.

"That is very astute of you, Natsu Dragneel." He kneels down until we're eye-level; I realize that I've sunken to my knees, somnolence locking my muscles.

"What...price?" I ask, fighting to keep my eyes open. I do not know if he is releasing the Sleep Magic on purpose, to make me conformable, or if it's an automatic mechanism.

"Nothing you hold in great value," he says passively, vaguely. "Do we have a deal, Natsu?"

I brace my hands against the ground, forcing my head up, steeling my will against his magic, though it's becoming harder and harder. I want to say yes because it's the easy way out - surely, he would leave me alone if I do - but I know that the deal is not as saccharine as he makes it out to be. I know intrinsically that nothing can be as flawless as he displays it as.

"No...way..." My will flickers and my consciousness begins to fade in and out. The Mage lets out a small sound of annoyance before rising up and leaving without another sound or word.

* * *

When I come to, it's still night, so I am sure I haven't been asleep very long. I give a tentative sniff and grimace; that Mage's scent is long gone. Absolutely perfect.

I rise slowly, trying to shake some life into my stiff limbs, when I notice a different scent in the air, one that tastes like cologne and desperation with a bit of soap suds - eau de Celestial Spirit, and not the good one either. He is reclining against one of the still-intact homes, arms crossed over his chest, eyes blazing behind his glasses. I stay silent for several moments, watching him stare daggers through me, before I clear my throat, "Is something, er, the matter?"

"You broke her heart," he says, not missing a beat. I shift on my feet, half out of uneasiness and half out of lingering somnolence.

"I had to get her away from me," I protest, but my voice is not passionate, not convicted. "I had to say _something_."

"Well, you sure as hell didn't do anything good." Loke stands up straight, dropping his arms to his sides. "All you did was hurt yourself and her."

"I know. I _know_, damn it. You don't have to remind me, Loke."

"And you're going to leave things as they are?"

I clench my head, grinding my teeth together. "I don't know. I _don't know! _You don't understand! No matter how much I want things to be otherwise, I am cursed, and I cannot have a single friend. Not even Lucy."

"But you've noticed it, haven't you?" he asks. "That she hadn't died?"

The scar flashes back into memory. "It was a fluke," I say halfheartedly. "Maybe she has an innate inclination to Healing Magic. I don't know. But it is not humanly possible to recover from a wound like that - it wasn't superficial, it went straight through her. Hell, one of her Spirits could have healed her. But I don't put her in danger with the assumption that a one-time thing is permanent."

"Then what if it is?" His words cause me to hesitate. "What if it is permanent, and Lucy can, somehow, not die?"

For a crazy minute, my heart thunders wildly with that hope. "Even so, I do not want to subject her to the constant pain of being injured, whether or not she does heal afterwards. I only hurt; I cannot help. I cannot love."

Loke sighs. "I'm not saying that you should endanger everybody you meet," he says, meeting my eyes. "But should you constantly be breaking your own heart? Some damage cannot be repaired."

My hands ball into fists at my sides. "No matter what, I have to protect everyone. I made that promise when Igneel died. No matter what - even if my heart is to shatter into a trillion microbes, never to be seen again - I will not take another life." Wendy's blackened face flashed into my mind; I repress it, clamping my jaw shut. Loke bows his head for a moment with a sigh.

"I digress. What I came here to do is to tell you to find Lucy and tell her that you lied."

"No," I say, much too quickly. "She was already too attached to me."

"Whether she loves you or not, you really did break her heart, and as her best friend I can't stand seeing her like that."

"Or is it because in reality you love her?" I goad. His eyebrow twitches, but I do give him props for keeping his expression straight.

"Yes. Yes, I do," he says, undaunted. "Now, let me ask you a question: if you weren't cursed, then what would you do with Lucy?"

That catches me off guard. I really don't know what I would do. "Touch her," I say without thinking. "Touch her to confirm my beliefs that she's there, alive, and I could do whatever I pleased without worrying about her dying."

Loke makes a small sound in the back of his throat, so reminiscent of a lion's growl that I tense up, but his face remains the same. "Alright, then," he says vaguely.

"What? Why did you ask me that?"

"No reason." His smug smile says otherwise. "But look, you should go clear things up with her, because I hate to see her looking so broken."

"One more thing," I interrupt. "Did you see the Mage that was here?"

He furrows his eyebrows. "A Mage? What did he look like?"

"He...er..." I grind my fist into my temple with a growl. His face, indistinct as it was, is hard to discern. He could have used a Memory Magic charm on me, or it is an added effect of the Sleep Magic. "I don't remember, but he said he could break my curse without killing the source."

"That's impossible."

"The way he said it indicates he means a method outside of Earthland."

Loke thinks for a moment. "I can't be sure that's possible. I've seen the curse in action - don't be put-off, but I've known you a lot longer than you think - and its intricacies seem to complicated for something besides just cutting the head of the beast. Literally."

"Wait, you _knew_ me?"

"We met about thirteen years ago; I was a witness to the curse's first effects in you. I knew Igneel a bit from my excursions to the human world and I've always known that he had a sort of darkness about him. Then it became apparent that it was slowly leaving him and entering you, draining his vitality as it happened." He shrugged. "I don't know much after that, because I became contracted and didn't have as much time to flip between worlds, but I heard a while later that he had died. Sorry."

"Why didn't you tell me before, that you knew me?"

"What good would it have done? I knew Igneel better; we did not know each other very well. On my visits, he would ask if I had found another way of breaking the curse. He was afraid for you, you know, that he would kill you. But every time I didn't have a solution. Then your...you know, parents died, and he fled, wanting to protect you even though it would hurt you to see him suddenly disappear. But you continued to love him, even when that love led him to his demise." He eyes me. "Sound familiar?"

Scathingly so.

"You can't protect her by hurting her, because feelings cannot be so easily severed. Lucy isn't capable of hate, you see. After a while she will recover and try to get you back, and if you tell her you hate her again the situation will repeat itself constantly. You want that?"

I shake my head no.

"Then fix your problem."

"I don't know about being a Celestial Spirit," I say, "but you'd make one hell of a life coach."

He raises his eyebrows, giving me a sarcastic snort before disappearing.

* * *

I find Fairy Hills, Fairy Tail's female dormitory, fairly easy, the majority of the Guild's females' scents leading up to it. Besides, it isn't very far from the actual Guild. I start to approach the doors but stop; it's a _female_ dorm, I think. There's no way I can walk inside so casually. I look around at its long interior wall - the center of its 'H' shape - and see double rows of windows showing the inside of the rooms. Most of them are curtained, of course, but I see two or three that are open. I inhale deeply; Lucy's scent is strongest at the second window from the right, second floor. As I move closer I realize that that window is closed; I rub my hands together in anticipation.

I move to the side of the building to the right pillar outside of the lobby, digging my fingers into the bricks. My body heat causes the material to melt slightly, allowing my fingers to find purchase in the freshly-made grooves. I scale the pillar easily and land on the porch's tile roof; at the last moment I miscalculate the minor jumping distance from the pillar to the roof and my foot skids over the edge. The fall itself isn't troubling but I lack the dexterity to make a silent, graceful landing; I would wake up every living soul in the dormitory. I spin my arms in a wild attempt to regain my lost balance before an obvious fact comes to punch me in the face. _I have Fire Magic, duh._

I bend my arms and blast flames from my elbows. The air repelled by it creates a force equal to gravity working on my body, slowly righting myself. I only hope nobody noticed the brief light they created. I cross the length of the roof silently until I'm underneath Lucy's window. I see that the one next to hers is open - I have to be careful to not show up. I reach up to grab her windowsill, pulling myself up while simultaneously thanking Igneel for making me do all that upper body training that I loathed years prior. Using one hand to keep myself up, I press my right hand flat against the glass of the window, spiking my internal temperature until the glass hisses like an agitated snake, turning to liquid against my palm. I slip my hand through the hole and unlatch it, pushing it up to fit my whole body through.

Lucy's room is plain with a wooden floor and white walls. Her bed is in the corner opposite of my position. I ghost across the floor, listening to her incoherent mutters as she tosses and turns on the bed. As I grow closer I realize that her cheeks are glistening and I repress the urge to pull her into my arms in response. "Lucy," I say, my voice low.

She sits up so suddenly that I believe she has been awake, then her eyes droop and dull and I realize she's still half-asleep. "Natsu?" she murmurs. Then shakes her head, "No, Natsu hates me. He wouldn't be here."

"I am here," I say. She looks at me again.

"This is the girls' dorm, Natsu," she says blearily.

"I don't care. I came because I had to tell you something." I step closer, wrapping my fingers around her wrist. That seems to catch her attention; her eyes light up a fraction more.

"What is it?"

"I don't hate you." The words are hard to say - I've become so used to suppressing my feelings that it is an actual effort to speak them. "I don't hate you at all, Lucy. In fact-" I choke off. Her eyes widen expectantly.

"In fact, what?"

"In fact..." Suddenly my own body heat is too much for me to take. I release her, pressing my palms against the wall, bowing my head against my chest. I take several deep breaths to calm myself, still in awe at how Lucy, by merely being _Lucy_, can get me so flustered I can't form two coherent thoughts in the same breath. "Er, erm, in fact, I would do any-urk!-thing for you." My voice is more strained than usual and a few notes higher.

"Anything?" she echoes, a trace of a smile on her lips.

"Anything," I repeat, wishing my embarrassment to vanish already. "Anything."

"Sleep with me," she says. "For the night. If you're here, the bad dreams won't come." [Don't get ideas either; I literally mean _next_ to her, not _with_ her.]

"What?" I exclaim, then quickly clap a hand over my mouth to lower my voice. I don't hear a response from the other rooms, so I continue, "You can't mean that, Lucy!" Red races up and down my cheeks and neck, not sure where to make my embarrassment present. "I'm a guy-and you're a girl-"

"Please," she pleads, and I silence at the deep sadness that settles in her eyes. I know that look all too well - it is the one I see in my eyes often. I acquiesce and sit on the edge of the bed, though I stiffen when I take a good look at it; it's a single-person bed, meaning that to sleep together I would have to be within hair's width of her. I tense as she lies down, facing me expectantly with tired eyes. Maybe if she falls asleep, I can leave. "Natsu," she urges with a petulant tone. It doesn't look like she's going to sleep without me.

Damn it.

I kick off my sandals and stretch my legs out on the bed. Because of our height difference her face presses against my chest. She balls up fistfuls of my vest, inhaling me. "Charcoal and musk," she whispers. I feel a cold wetness against my bare skin. "Don't leave me, Natsu."

Slowly, almost methodically, I put my arms on her back; she relaxes a minuscule amount. "I won't," I promise. "I won't."

After a few moments Lucy's breaths, hitched by crying, even out, and she becomes limp against me. I press my nose into her hair, inhaling her scent. Every cell in my body is telling me to leave now, don't let her get attached, but my body itself is unresponsive, and my lethargic mind finally releases itself from my worries of my curse and allows me to sleep, unhindered, with Lucy.

* * *

Thinking this was it? You're in for another surprise. This is a little extra for you guys, a half-chapter for the Fourth of July!

"This is preposterous," Natsu says. "I would not sleep with Lucy like this. What kind of bullshit are you coming up with out there?"

It's the bullshit you have to follow.

"I have a question," Lucy pipes up, making a point of not meeting Natsu's eyes. "Why does Natsu try to hard to push everyone away?"

That's obvious, isn't it? He doesn't want to kill anybody by befriending them.

"Yeah," Natsu agrees. "Is Happy coming back, however? I am quite taken with the little guy."

"Aye!" Happy cheers, landing on Natsu's bed of pink spikes. "I knew it, Natsu!"

Aw. Happy is a substantial character, however; it's the ambiguity of whether or not he can be killed by the curse that makes him a vital ally to you, Natsu. You're less reserved around him, even prone to bouts of emotion like the one last chapter. Besides...who can refuse such a cute kitty?

"Aye, sir!" Happy agrees excitedly. "But when do I show again? And when do I get a fish?"

Oh, well...that's...Lucy! Questions? Please.

Lucy scratches Happy between the ears. "Is anything here still related to the anime or manga?"

"What's anime?" Natsu asks.

Yes. This story takes place immediately after the time-skip, however many gaps that leaves in the "plot," haha. For the sake of Incendium we're going to assume someone has taken Natsu's place in the many pre-time-skip battles - and that someone certainly is not Mystgun. I don't know if I'll elaborate on the dragons' past, so I'll say here that Mystgun has met Wendy and introduced her to Cait Shelter, just as the anime depicted, and somewhere during that time she befriended Natsu. So, this is canon with a few hiccups in design.

"Why is it Lucy is immune to the curse?"

Why the hell would you ask that Natsu? That would be a huge spoiler! But I'll give a small hint: this has nothing to do with Lucy herself.

"...I don't comprehend." Natsu bites his lip. "I don't like not comprehending."

Lucy puts her arms around him, rising to her tiptoes to press her forehead against his. "You don't comprehend me either, do you, Natsu Dragneel?" Natsu hisses and pulls away in response, his breathing erratic.

You loove her.

"That's my shtick!" Happy complains.

Oh, shut it, you infernal feline, before I completely cut you free from the story.

"I do not love Lucy," Natsu says contemptuously. "What an absurd notion."

"Natsu," Lucy smiles, "you only use big words when you're upset."

"I do not!"

You do. It's, like, one of your oh-so-obvious emotions.

"Anyway," Natsu says loudly, waving her off. "When do I get to fight somebody?"

Haha. No matter what, I cannot obscure Natsu's manly fighting spirit. MAN!

"Ouch," he says, rubbing his ear.

Well... Is that the last of the questions?

"How long will this story be?" Happy asks.

I don't know, ha. To admit, I'm a very haphazard writer - a lot of the stuff you read is spur-of-the-moment. I don't plan on making this especially long however, like The One Without a Name; I'll give it at least twenty chapters, and if I'm in the mood, an epilogue.

"Will there be anything involving canon material?"

Hm... I do plan on integrating some things from the manga. By "some things" expect the Tartaros boys. Man, I'm freaking loving this arc!

Lucy has a question this time. "Anything you want to say to the readers?"

Readers? Oh yes. I swear you guys are my rocks anchoring me to writing. I want to be an author someday so I'm happy to know that people appreciate my writing skills now. Without you guys, I wouldn't write at all, and where would that leave me? In a pool of desolation, it would. I don't think I could take for granted how extremely beautiful you guys are. (Forgive me if that came out wrong, please. It sounds wrong to me somehow.) Seriously, I love you guys, and I would name all my Followers and Favoriters but I'm pressed for time. So one final thank you from me and the cast of Incendium!


End file.
